2013-02-11

Healthy Chocolate-Fix Smoothie

I hope everyone had a splendid weekend.  I'm currently getting over a bit of a head cold that I caught from Kevin, which he probably got from the school he works at.  I'm happy to have Monday and Tuesday off this week, and I will be starting a new job hopefully on Wednesday or Thursday!  Yay!

I'll give you a "quick" breakdown of how my life has been changing over the past few weeks:

I have been working as an Administrative Assistant at Tradesmen International since July, but in the beginning of January I had had a meeting with my boss that would change everything.  Since it was the beginning of the year, I thought long and hard about where I want to be in a year professionally, and I decided that I wanted to start pursuing careers in the field I graduated in, Environmental Science.  I have always been an honest person and appreciate when others are honest with me, so I sat down with my boss and discussed taking Thursday afternoons off so that I could have some time to start looking for environmental jobs.  Since I got all of my work done by noon most Thursdays, this was no problem, and he understood that I was going to be with them temporarily from the beginning.  I told him that it would probably take me months to find the right job that I was looking for, and that I would of course give him my two weeks.  He was very understanding and supportive that I wanted to go after something in my field.

Well... about three weeks late I had a few leads on some jobs I had been looking into, and even an interview.  However, I also found out that I was being "laid-off" and would be worked through the end of the week and replaced by "someone who is wanting to be with us long-term."  Damn-it!  This will definitely teach me to be honest when it comes to things like this.  It turns out that the person they gave the job to replace me was my boss's brother's friend/girlfriend.  They kind of got what was coming to them in the end though: when I went to pick up my final check, I learned that the computer I had been working on and had all of my documents and spreadsheets I had created to do my job efficiently had crashed.  All I can say is karma is a bitch!

So, I have been out of work for two weeks, but I'm happy to announce that I've taken another job as an Administrative Assistant/Project Coordinator at a well known engineering firm that has wonderful connections and gateways to environmental positions I hope to get to someday.  Did I mention that I work about 20 hours less a week than my previous job and that I get paid about the same?  I think that's a fair trade-off.  In the end, I'm a firm believer in thinking that everything happens for a reason.  I'm just happy that this led me to something bigger and better.

Now, on to my recipe.... I, like most women, get that time of the month when chocolate seems to find its way into my mouth one way or another.  I thought I would try making something that would hopefully be more forgiving than a candy bar.  All I can say about it is... it is supposed to make two servings, but if you end up having the whole thing over an afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack... I'm not going to judge you ;).


Ingredients:

  • 2 cups non-dairy milk
  • 2 frozen bananas
  • 6 ice cubes
  • 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
  • 2-4 dates
  • 1 large kale leaf
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed


Directions:

  1. Place all ingredients into a high powered blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy.
  2. Serve cold immediately, store leftovers in an airtight container for up to one day... but it won't last that long.
Amy's Notes:
  • I used homemade almond milk for my smoothie, but any type of non-dairy milk will work.  If your milk is unsweetened, you may want up to 4 dates, but start with two and work your way till you find your desired sweetness.
  • I used 1 large kale leaf, which equaled out to about 2 cups of greens, but feel free to add as little or as much of any type of dark green that you have on hand.


4 comments:

  1. I'm glad you ended up with a new job. I am exactly the same when it comes to honesty, far to honest for my own good. A lot of people don't appreciate it but I just can't help myself when it comes to sharing things about my life.
    This smoothie looks great. I have no idea why I don't make more chocolate smoothies! I generally make them with carob. I'll have to give this a try.
    Thank you for sharing this with Healthy Vegan Fridays. Check back on Friday to see if you were one of the Top 3! We hope to see you again this week. You can submit a post from Friday to end of Tuesday:
    http://www.greenthickies.com/healthy-vegan-friday

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    1. Thanks so much Katherine! I do love my chocolate sometimes, and to think with this that I am getting at least a bit of greens and some fruit with it, I don't feel nearly as guilty to indulge. I have never tried carob, but I hear it and cocoa are fairly interchangeable. Thanks so much for hosting HVF's! -Amy

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  2. I didn't know that using chocolate in smoothies would still be considered healthy. They always say that chocolate is bad for you, but I guess it's okay in moderation. You can try avocado too! Instead of using ice, try freezing your fruits, it has the same effect as adding cubes in it. :) It got me thinking, maybe I should pursue a job on the field where I graduated. By the way, congratulations on your new job!

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    1. I wouldn't call this using chocolate in a smoothie, it is using unsweetened cocoa powder. So instead of traditional chocolate chips, candy bars, or syrup, it doesn't have any added sugars, dairy, or oils. I know that often times people use carob powder as replacement for cocoa for people with "food triggers" to overeat with that true cocoa taste. Like I said in my blog post, I was having a craving, and I figured a way I can get some fruits and greens in my body wouldn't hurt. I would definitely not make this a part of my everyday meal plans, but yes, indulging every now and then on the healthy goodies is just fine ;)

      I generally use frozen bananas since they cream up a smoothie so well, but I am definitely looking forward to the summer fruits and being able to freeze a bunch of those!

      Thanks so much! Before graduating college I never realized now difficult is was actually going to be to be able to get into my niche in the work world, but at least I'm getting closer!

      Thanks for reading,

      Amy

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